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How To Make Indian Restaurant Base Curry Sauce

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This curry house style base curry sauce will get you the results you’re looking for!

Visit the kitchen of any busy curry house and you are almost certain to see a large saucepan of curry sauce/gravy simmering away on the stove. This sauce is used as a base for most of the restaurant’s curries.

Each restaurant has their own special recipe but they are usually quite similar. The base sauce makes it possible for chefs to cook, plate and serve many different curries quickly and easily.

This smooth base curry sauce is just one of the things that give British Indian restaurant (BIR) style curries their distinctive flavour and texture that is loved by so many.

Base curry sauce in a saucepan on a table, ready to use in curry house style curries.

What exactly is the base curry sauce?

I like to describe the base curry sauce as a fancy vegetable stock. It doesn’t have a lot of flavour though it does taste good.

Add some tandoori chicken, cumin, garam masala, a large heap or two of chili powder, mango chutney and a few other ingredients and you’ve got yourself a chicken madras.

Keep the chilli powder to a minimum and add some cream, block coconut, rose water and a dusting of cardamom powder and voila… a fragrant chicken korma.

The most important thing to take away is that it’s a simple sauce. There should not be any strong or spicy flavours in it.

Why does the base sauce need to be kept simple?

You might have seen some recipes on the internet or books that require a lot more ingredients. That is completely defeating the purpose of making and using a base curry sauce! You might even see recipes that call for coconut milk, cream, fresh coriander, chillies and chilli powder and even tamarind. Although tasty, you should add ingredients like these when you make the different curry house style curries.

The base sauce is meant to be a bit bland. It’s a base! It should not have a lot of flavour because the idea is to build on the subtle flavours that are in it.

Add too many other, stronger flavoured or creamy ingredients and all of your curries will taste the same. Let your base curry sauce work it’s magic as you introduce other ingredients when you are making the different curries. You can use a simple, base curry sauce like this in every curry, from the mildest korma to the spiciest phall. 

So you never add stronger flavours to a base sauce?

Never say never! If you are preparing this base curry sauce and you know what you like, then go ahead and add more ingredients. Make it creamy with cream. Stir in some coconut milk or add chillies to give it a kick.

However, if you are making your base sauce and want to whip up curries in minutes for friends, it’s best to keep it simple. That is what they do at every curry house I have been to, learning from the chefs. They keep the sauce mild but flavoursome and then use it in all their curries from mild to spicy.

Mild and flavoursome is what you are going to get from this base curry sauce recipe!

Why use a base sauce?

The answer to this question is simple. It’s the best way you will achieve authentic and perfect curry house style curries at home.

When you have a base curry sauce (or gravy) on hand, you can literally prepare your favourite restaurant style curries in minutes. There is no need to slowly fry chopped onions and add other ingredients to form a base masala for your curry because all that work has been done ahead of time.

You can, however achieve amazing curry house style curries without a base sauce as I show in my series of no base curry house style curries here.

How was the base curry sauce developed?

The base sauce was developed over time. Chefs at inexpensive curry houses needed a way of cooking and serving their curries fast, while not losing out on flavour.

Cooking the curries in a more authentic and traditional way just wouldn’t be possible in most restaurants as it would be too labour intensive, overly time consuming and not cost effective.

By using this convenient sauce, which is made at restaurants fresh, daily, the chefs can cook a curry in about ten minutes.

That’s why you can expect to pay a lot less at a curry house than one of the more upmarket Indian restaurants.

How to store the base curry sauce

Although I do have smaller recipes for base curry sauce, I always recommend making this large batch, just like they do at most curry houses.

The finished base sauce can be stored in the fridge for at least three days and it freezes very well. When you first blend the sauce. it will be quite thick. This is the best time to portion it out and freeze it.

To use in your curries, however, the sauce needs to be diluted with water or stock until it is quite thin like full fat (whole) milk or single cream.

Unlike water or stock, the base sauce cooks down and becomes thick quite quickly when used in a curry. There are so many vegetables in it.

What size containers should you freeze the base sauce in?

That’s really up to you and how you wish to use it.

Most of the recipe in my books and on this blog that call for base curry sauce serve 2 to 4. These recipe call for anything between 500ml (2 cups) and 700ml (2 3/4 cups) of base sauce. That’s the diluted sauce!

So if you want to have enough sauce to cook a curry for four at the ready, I recommend freezing the sauce, before diluting it in portions of 350ml (1 3/4 cups). Then diluted it with water, vegetable, chicken or meat stock when you heat it up to use in your curry.

That said, I also have a lot of recipes for curry house portions of my recipes on this site. These call for between 250ml and 300ml of base sauce and serve 1 – 2 people.

If you are just going to be cooking for yourself or one other person, you could try them here.

What sort of containers should you use to freeze the sauce in?

I often use air-tight plastic containers. They are handy and easy.

If you are limited on freezer space, try using freezer bags.

Add the sauce in the amount you wish to a freezer bag, being sure to get as much air out of the bag as you can before sealing it. Then flatten it out. You can then stack them in your freezer to use as needed.

Be sure to heat the base sauce up before using.

You need to defrost and then heat the base sauce up before using in your curries.

You don’t want to add cold base sauce to your curries while cooking as it will cool the pan down too much.

Just heat it up in a pan next to where you are cooking your curry and add as required.

The amount of base sauce I used in your recipe was more/less than called for. Why is this?

At busy curry houses, the chef doesn’t use exact measures of base sauce.

If the curry is looking too dry, he will add more base sauce. If it is looking too saucy, he will just cook it down to his preferred consistency.

Please use the suggested measures of base sauce in my curry recipes as a guide. They are not in stone as many different things such as the heat of your pan and how many ingredients are in the pan can affect the amount of sauce you will need.

Be sure to subscribe to my blog as I have many more curry house recipes for you to try and I add them all the time. Together with this sauce you will be able to create curries better than you’ll find at most restaurants. I guarantee it!

Here are a few curry house style recipes you can use this sauce in now!

Hugely popular, you really can’t go wrong trying a Chicken Tikka Masala!

If you like a sweet and mild curry, Chicken Korma could be what you’re looking for.

Looking for something on the spicy side? Give Lamb Vindaloo  or Chicken Madras a go.

There are many curry house curries that are usually served with a medium heat and Chicken Dhansak Chicken Chilli Garlic, Chicken Patia, Lamb Bhuna, Chicken Chasni and Lamb Rogan Josh or all delicious.

Don’t forget the onion bhajis to help make your curry into a feast!

Once you make your base curry sauce and prepare a curry, you might like to serve a few sides.

If you’d like to make this curry into a feast, you’ve come to the right place. You could just go for a side of rice and I have some popular rice recipes for you here.

If you’d like to make naans or chapatis, you will find what you’re looking for here.

Want to start your curry feast meal off with a bang? How about fried shop bought poppadoms or if you’re feeling ambitious, make your own poppadoms from scratch and serve them with coriander chutney, red onion chutney, and/or tamarind chutney.

Do you have to make so much base sauce?

No. You might like to if you have freezer space though because the base sauce freezes well and is nice to have on hand for that last minute curry takeaway craving. In my book The Curry Guy, you will find both small and large batches.

You can always use my small batch version, which you can prepare in about 30 minutes. It’s perfect if you just want to experiment with a few of my curry house style curries.

Step by step photos.

The ingredients for the recipe, prepared and laid out on a table.

It’s a good idea to get all your ingredients ready before you start cooking.

Frying the onions in oil in a pot.

Pour the oil into a pot over a medium-high heat and then stir in the onions and a tsp of salt. Fry the onions for a couple of minutes to soften.

Adding the bell peppers, carrot and cabbage to the pot.

Stir in the remaining vegetable so that they are all coated with the oil. 

Adding the garlic and ginger paste to the pot.

Cook the vegetables down for a couple of minutes and then stir in the garlic and ginger paste.

Adding the paprika, ground coriander, cumin, garam masala, fenugreek and turmeric to the pot.

Then add the paprika, ground coriander, cumin, garam masala, fenugreek and turmeric.

Adding water to the vegetables and spices in the pot.

Pour in just enough water to cover the veggies. You should leave about 2 inches at the top.

Simmering the sauce covered in the pot.

Bring it all to a simmer and then reduce the heat to medium and simmer for about 45 minutes.

The sauce after simmering for 45 minutes.

After 45 minutes, you sauce should look like this.

Showing the cooked vegetables in the sauce on a spoon.

The vegetables inside will be very soft and the room will smell like a good curry house.

Continuing to simmer the sauce to enhance the flavour.

At this stage, it is a good idea to continue simmering for another 30 minutes to enhance the flavour.

Beginning to blend the sauce.

Now blend the sauce with a stick blender. You could also use a countertop blender.

Blending the base sauce until smooth.

You want to blend until really smooth. At this stage, the base curry sauce will be quite thick. Time to thin it some!

Thinning the sauce with water

Add water or stock to thin the sauce. It should be about the same consistency as full fat (whole) milk.

Pouring the base curry sauce from a spoon back into the pot.

It should be creamy smooth.

Base curry sauce in a pot.

Your base sauce is ready to use. It is best to heat it up before adding to your curry.

 

 

Yield: 3 liters (enough for 15 servings)

How To Make Indian Restaurant Curry Sauce

Instant base sauce

Take some time to make this base curry sauce. Once it's made and you have it on hand, you can whip up all your favourite curry house style curries in minutes! From the mildest korma to the spiciest phaal, this is the base you need to make them just like you get at Indian restaurants.

Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

  • 900g (2lb/about 7 medium) onions, roughly chopped
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 250ml (1 cup) rapeseed (canola) oil*
  • 110g (4oz) carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 60g (2oz) cabbage, roughly chopped
  • 85g (3oz) red (bell) pepper, deseeded and diced
  • 85g (3oz) green (bell) pepper, deseeded and diced
  • 200g (1 cup) tinned (canned) chopped tomatoes, or about 4 medium fresh tomatoes, chopped
  • 5 tbsp garlic and ginger paste
  • 1 1/2 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ground cumin
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ground coriander
  • 1 1/2 tbsp paprika
  • 1 tbsp ground fenugreek (optional)
  • 1⁄2 tbsp ground turmeric

Instructions

  1. Place the onions in a 3-litre (3 US quart) stockpot over a medium heat and add the salt and oil. Give it a good stir and fry to soften the onions for about 3 minutes. Then add the remaining vegetables along with the garlic and ginger paste and stir them in to coat with the oil too.
  2. Add the ground spices and then pour in just enough water to cover. You will simmer this for some time, so do not fill the pan to the rim. The water level should be about 5cm (2in) from the top.
  3. Bring to a simmer and then reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, covered, for about 45 minutes.
  4. After 45 minutes, your vegetables will be much softer and the liquid will have reduced somewhat. You probably won't need to add any liquid at this stage but keep an eye on it and top it up if you need too.
  5. Simmer for another 30 minutes. When the oil rises to the top and your veggies are good and soft, you’re ready to blend.
  6. Using a hand-held blender, blend for about 4 minutes until the sauce is super-smooth, with no chunks and not at all grainy. This step can be done in batches in a blender. If you have a good blender, you might not need to blend as long to achieve that smooth consistency.
  7. At this stage, the blended sauce will be quite thick (see note). Add water until the sauce is about the same consistency as full-fat (whole) milk or stock. Sometimes I need to pour the sauce into a larger bowl to do this.
  8. Use immediately or store in the fridge for up to 3 days, or freeze in small portions of between 500ml (2 cups) and 750ml (31⁄4 cups) for use later. The sauce can be frozen for up to three months.

Notes

Freezing the base sauce.

If you are planning on freezing the base sauce, it is best to freeze it before diluting with water. This will save you freezer space. Then when you are ready to use the base sauce, let it defrost completely and heat it up in a pan. Dilute this thick sauce with water or stock until it is about the same consistency as full fat (whole) milk or single cream before using.

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Angelina

Sunday 24th of March 2024

How many cups of base does this recipe make?

Dan Toombs

Saturday 30th of March 2024

This should make approximately 2 litres of it. Thanks Dan

James

Thursday 22nd of February 2024

Hi Dan.. First off thanks so much for sharing all your knowledge and experience. Diving in head first and loving it! Just one question regarding the base sauce.. if I have only six large onions do I leave everything else as is or should I scale all the other ingredients down accordingly? Many thanks,

James

Dan Toombs

Saturday 24th of February 2024

Just leave as is, the recipe is not an exact science. it’s fine to use what you have. Thanks very much. Dan

Stephen Votadini

Sunday 4th of February 2024

Hi Dan.

I used to make a similar version of this in my 20’s (I’m now in my 60’s) using a book by Pat Chapman called Favourite Indian Restaurant Curries. I think I’ll pick up the mantle again and try your version, it sounds very appealing.

Dan Toombs

Friday 9th of February 2024

Yes Pat Chapman was innovative in his day. Hope you enjoy my version. Thanks Dan

Scott

Tuesday 14th of November 2023

Hi there going to make this as my first curry for the family, I can’t see where it says how much this base sauce makes? As I need to make enough for 5 then use the base for a masala, any help appreciated!

Dan Toombs

Sunday 19th of November 2023

I don’t state an exact quantity but there will easily be enough for what you want to do. Dilute the finished base sauce with water when you’re ready to make each curry so it is the approximate consistency of full fat milk. You can also freeze it, 200 ml in each bag then once you dilute it this will be more than enough for one curry.

Chris

Sunday 22nd of October 2023

Hi Dan, This recipe looks great. One question - is it 9 table spoons of garlic paste and 9 table spoons of ginger paste? Or 4.5 / 4.5?

Thanks Chris.

Dan Toombs

Tuesday 24th of October 2023

It’s 9 tablespoons of combined garlic and ginger paste. Thanks Dan

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